Theophylact the Pious
Theophylact the Pious (Selucian: Theophylactus Pius) was a medieval Istalo-selucic noble who ruled on several indipendent lordships in the middle of the modernday Mezzodiurno, the main ones the county of Regii Castrum Ingrisii (modernday Reggio Ingris) and the duky of Colsamia (modernday Romula). Also known for his career as mercenary, he is best known for being the first istalian to convert to Hosianism and to bring the new religion to the peninsula on his return from one of his trips around Majatra and founder of the first Istalian church. Biography Born in Regium Castrum Ingrisii from Claudius Marcianus of Regium, Lord of the County of Regium Castrum Ingrisi, which center was the large fortress south of Colsamia, the small town in which the once powerful city of Qolshamih had been reduced after the fall of the ancient Kingdom. Claudius Marcianus was in turn the son of a selucian noble from the Alarian Kingdom of Nicoma who maried the last descendant of the last of the once powerful Master at Arms of the Kerronian dynasty, Suhar-Shin, whose family continued to govern on the central region of the southern plateau as one of the most powerfull feudal lords under the last Kerronian Kings, continuing to rule on these lands also after the fall of the Kingdom. Claudius Marcianus when Theophylact was child, achieved to take the lordship of the Dukedom of Colsamia from the last Ayaddan Duke, appointed by the powerful warlords Harun, the one who led the Ayadda tribes in the Istalian lands invading the Kingdom of Qolshamih. The fact that a native was able to retake what was the center of the ancient powerful Kingdom, brought glory and respect to the family of Theophylact which managed to become one of the most powerful lordship of the peninsula. Despite the contempt for the invaders, however, some Ayadda traditions had influenced the conquered land and among them one that spread among the native nobility was the use by part of tribes lords to fight as mercenary traveling to distant lands, a way to increase ability, experience, knwoledge and wealth of course. Theophylact leaves the house two time with his father for these mercenary traveling and since he was young he distinguished himself as fine warrior. Theophylactus, however, showed to be really more interested in the lifestyle of the mercenary and in the conquering of ever more richness and few time was devoted to the family lordship which one day he would have inherited. But precisely his passion for the war brought him farther than anyone else before him. This allowed Theophylactus to reach the areas of Majatra already touched by the growing Hosian religion. Impressed by the message of the new faith, after the longest of his military campaigns he converted to Hosianism (somewhere in west Majatra, modernday Jelbania or Zardugal) and, rejecting his life of mercenary, decided to come back at home bringing with him some hosian monks to spread the Word of Eliyahu. Back at home, Theophylactus moved his court in Colsamia, a better location than Regium Ingrisii to defend the northern lands of his lordship during a period of lords' petty wars (conflict that often interested the peninsula during the so called post-classical era). Consolidated his power and securized his lands, finally he decided to concede to the hosian monks the triclinium (the formal dining room of the Selucian tradition) of his residence in Colsamia so to be converted into a chapel, the first hosian church in the Istalian lands. In 403 the monks, who had established a monastery close to the castle of the Duke, decided to baptize a veritable church which was dedicated to Saint Matthias. The church will become the center of the hosianism in Istalia and on his location will arise the Archbasilica of St. Matthias the Baptist to the Walls, the Aurorian Cathedral of Romula's diocese, seat of the Archibishop of the city, Primate of Istalia. Theophylactus spent the rest of his life well governing his lands following the teachings of the Hosianism, especially in helping poor and desperate, building a hospital and a hospice for the poor, entrusted to the care of the monks. But also he enriched the library of his residence with new texts and documents brought with him during his voyages, making them copy by the monks, preserving several ancient texts from the oblivion of the Majatran middle ages as well as from the most extreme persecution by part of the hosian foundamentalists of the first centuries against the pagan's culture, which instead Theophylactus respected being his family part of the selucic (and so pagan) culture. Theophylactus today Theophylactus was never canonized by the Holy Apostolic Hosian Church of Terra or by some other hosian denominations but he is honored by the hosianism for his role in spreading the words of Eliyahu in Eastern Majatra. In fact, the hosian "hub" which he promoted influenced not only the lordship of Theophylactus of just the Peninsula, but also lands in modernday Solentia and Kafuristan accelerating the diffusion of the new religion in the continent. Category:Istalian people Category:History of Istalia Category:Hosianism